Trip Report: Algarve, Portugal

As soon as we knew Sona was pregnant, we begin planning a maternity leave trip. Not only did we have a lot of airline miles to use before they expired, but we also knew that–since Elias is most certainly our last baby–we likely wouldn’t have another extended period of time off again for a long, long time.

So, we started thinking about destinations. Since we travel to the Caribbean a lot, and that doesn’t necessarily feel special, we decided early on to go to Europe, instead, however naive that decision was. When we did some crowd-sourcing, asking about European places that are particularly kid-friendly, folks resoundingly recommended Spain and Portugal. We’ve been to–and love–the former; so, we set our sights on the latter.

While Sona and I could spend weeks wandering through European cities, sitting at cafes and sipping coffee or wine, we knew that our kiddos would require a slower pace and some built-in entertainment that doesn’t necessarily come in a carafe. That led us to Algarve, Portugal’s photo-ready coast. We figured that if we split our time between a beach town and a city, Finn would have plenty to do, and we’d have an excuse to relax by the water for half of the trip.

We landed on Alvor when searching for vacation rentals, as many of the places we liked were in Prainha Village, the largest collection of rentals in Alvor. PV is a resort-like complex, which is itself the size of a small town, and though we typically steer clear of resorts, having the convenience of many pools, restaurants, a grocery store, and fabulous beaches within walking distance was appealing, as we already knew we’d be challenged by traveling so far with the kiddos.

While PV’s prime was likely a couple of decades ago, we still really loved the property. It’s the perfect place for a family, and it was easy. We’re not always the kind of travelers that make decisions for the sake of ease, but again, our goal this trip was to have reasonable expectations and to try, as much as possible, to set ourselves up for a successful, semi-restful time.

Alvor ended up being the perfect home base. We flew into Faro, which was a 45 minute ride away from the little town. Alvor was small and quiet, especially since we missed busy season by a month or so. We could isolate ourselves in our little resort area–where we were frequently the only ones around–or we could take a taxi into town for about $6, which we did most evenings for dinner. (We opted not to rent cars on the trip, either, because we didn’t want to deal with car seats or the stress of driving in a new country. Taxis and Ubers were plentiful, cheap, clean, and friendly. We took them everywhere.)

Our days in Alvor were long and lazy–and the week went by way too fast. Each morning, I went downstairs to the little market where we could buy hot croissants, which we ate on our balcony before heading to the beach or the pool. We played most of the day, soaking up the sun and ignoring nap time more than we should’ve (that caught up to us), and then we’d head into town for a seafood dinner and gelato and an evening stroll through the small fishing town of Alvor.

Though there are dozens of beaches in the Algarve, the little coves at Prainha Village, which are part of Tres Irmaos beach, were the most special we saw. They are private and spectacular and completely disappear at high tide, which means their character changes throughout the day. We finally made it to low tide on our last day at the beach, and it was a totally new landscape: tide pools, exposed rocks, shells galore.  From our villa, we were within easy (by “easy” I mean you have to go up and down about 1,000 stairs) walking distance to 3 or 4 great beaches, ranging from rocky coves to wide, sandy stretches.

We also took one day trip to Lagos, which is one of the largest towns in the Algarve, and sampled pastries and even more gelato and explored the city squares, trying to avoid the touristy spots. We also hit up the old fort and had an Uber take us on a tour of the beaches around Lagos, which are in and of themselves worth a trip. Praia de Camilo is particularly stunning and considered one of Portugal’s best beaches–with good reason. We were glad to have experienced Lagos, which has a good deal of charm if you wander away from the tourist shops, but we were happy to retreat back to the little village of Alvor, where we spent a full week before taking the train to Lisbon.

 

 

Our Algarve Faves and Recommendations:

• AirBnBs are plentiful and CHEAP; Prainha Village has a ton
• eat at A Lota in Alvor and get the fresh seafood platter
• get lots of gelato at both Tutti and Buono Gelato (Alvor)
• visit Tres Irmaos beach during low tide
• explore Lagos, but stay somewhere smaller
• get pastries at Confeitaria D’alvor (Alvor) and Padaria Central (Lagos)
• drink as much Algarve orange juice as you can find, and you’ll find a lot
• visit the Atlantic pool, which has a spectacular view, at Prainha Village, even if you aren’t staying there
• rent a car or hire an Uber to do a beach tour; make sure you see Praia do Camilo
• visit in late September to avoid the crowds but still take full advantage of warm beach weather
• eat at Gastropub 13 in Alvor
• make reservations for dinners, even when you think the season is slow